The Mantle
by donamatter
Summary: The Forerunner assumed the Mantle after their Precursor gods. But was it really meant for them? The Prothean created a fissure in the wall of reality in the form of two corresponding mass relays. They entered into the Halo universe and long after the Normandy crew find the site of the fissure and go through to be trapped on the other side. They are met by Dr Halsey & Master chief.
1. Prologue

'The fleets stranded here in sol. Without a mass relay we can't go anywhere. We're working on it but it will take time,' explained Hackett.

'I understand Admiral. Liara seems to think there is a Prothean site close by, I figure it would be worth checking out considering the circumstances,' replied Alenko.

'I'm in your position Commander. You do what you have to, I'll contact you again when I have more information. Hackett out.'

Hackett evaporated and Kaiden leaned on the rail for a moment. He left the comm room and entered into the war room. Liara, Garrus, Traynor and EDI stood around the holo-table at the center of the control room. The Normandy was going to be grounded for a very long time unless they find more element zero and Titanium.

'Where are we at?'

'Minor repairs are underway, the larger damages will have to wait until we have the proper materials,' replied EDI.

'Alright then. What about this Prothean site?'

'Preliminary scans show that the site is very similar in size to the Archive on Mars,' explained Liara.

'Could it have what we need?'

'The Archive had stocks of element zero and other critical elements to build Mass effect cores with so it is most likely.'

'Then let's get moving.'

The yellow sun gleamed off the sweating leafs of the trees surrounding them. They trekked through the tropical rain forest below the mound of rock the Normandy had crashed on towards the supposed Prothean site. The faint energy signature came from behind an old door, over grown with moss and vines.

'Well, this must be it.'

Liara held her Omni-tool up and waved it over the door. She used some of the old decryption algorithms from other dig sites to open the door. The two solid slabs split at the center to reveal a long dark corridor. As they moved in the corridor began to come alive. Lights imbedded in supports along the corridor flickered on to illuminate the grey sheen of the walls.

'This doesn't look like any Prothean ruin I've seen,' announced Garrus.

'This is not common Prothean architecture. I've only seen it on very remote digs. This type of design was used as a permanent settlement, made to support permanent residents,' explained Liara.'

'Commander Alenko, I'm detecting isolated pockets of anti-matter 12 kilometers below your current location,' echoed EDI's voice over the team's comm.

They reached the end of the corridor and a large spherical room illuminated upon their entry. Green holographic terminals appeared around the room and folded away compartments folded out to make work benches.

'Oh no.'

Garrus slumped at the sight of what was scattered across all the work benches and hooked up with cables and monitoring screens.

'Reaper tech,' sighed Liara.

Obsidian chunks of reaper tech were hooked up to monitoring systems and other pieces were on work benches either disassembled or ready for disassembly.

'They were researching reaper technology.'

Liara tapped at her Omni-tool and her VI aid 'Glyph' appeared. Glyph began sifting through the stations data troves.

'Analysis complete. This is Prothean re-search base code name Janus. The facility was originally tasked the research of inter-dimensional travel. However during the reaper war the facility was also responsible for finding Reaper vulnerabilities.'

'Inter-Dimensional travel?' wondered Kaiden.

'A highly theoretical form of travel between realities or dimensions. IDT lab is underground, I will hail the elevator so we may investigate.'

Glyph disappeared and a large round elevator camp up through the floor and halted. Its two doors slid open. Kaiden looked back at Liara and Garrus and smirked. They entered into the elevator. Glyph re-appeared and the elevator began to descend.

Kaiden couldn't help but think how normal this felt; going into the unknown. Following Shepard on his numerous suicide missions had made him more open minded and less ignorant to the improbable. Liara however was still mourning his death, they had grown so close to be torn apart by the reapers. Garrus, well Garrus was a hard ass. Ever since the battle the stick seems to have gone further up his ass; at least that's how Joker put claustrophobic elevator shaft expanded into a massive laboratory area. The laboratory had been carved out of the rock and several research stations had been setup. Tungsten plating had been placed over the rock and had begun to split as new rock began to protrude through.

'The facilities power reserves are at maximum capacity. It appears the Protheans left it dormant.'

'Why would they leave it dormant? Were they expecting to come back?'

'No. The logs suggest that they successfully established a fissure between realities. They fled through it in a final attempt at preserving the Prothean Empire.'

**March 5****th****, 2558  
****Ealen IV**

Palmer squeezed the trigger and a short burst of MA5B rounds punched through the ribs of another Sangheili. Fire team Jackknife took down a trio of Elite Rangers as they and Palmer escorted the delegates out of the ruins of the council chamber.

'Commander Palmer, We've got a lot of Elites knocking on the door,' warned DeMarco over the comm.

'Copy that, regroup at the shuttle!'

Admiral Hood, Kaidon Thal'Vadame, Captain Lasky and Chieftain Lydus were surrounded by Jackknife as they slowly moved through the ruins.

'We need to move!'

The stone walls crumpled under their own weight and the sealing was only kept aloft by a pair of support pillars. They retreated through the secondary exit and sealed it behind them. Without a collapsing room looming over them they quickly gathered themselves and made for the diplomatic shuttle waiting for them on a landing pad to the north.

Thal'Vadame seemed to walk through the hissing bolts of energy un-phased, Chieftain Lydus flinched with every shot and Lasky squirmed in his own skin when a bolt flew through. The Elites thumped through the halls and crashed through doors, causing mayhem as they moved north. More gunfire drew closer.

'Hold the line Majestic, nothing gets to that shuttle!'

Palmer smirked at the sound of DeMarco's bravado. He was with no doubt the cockiest son of a bitch Palmer had ever met. The formation calls of Fire team Bailey's commander came through the firing as they moved through the final door and onto the landing pad. Majestic covered a stair case to the right and Bailey covered another to the left. Jackknife spread out around the diplomats as they made the final push for the shuttle. Palmer emptied a clip down the hall way, shredding a squad of grunts and their Elite commander before sealing the door.

As they set foot on the steps leading up towards the shuttle a wing of banshees descended through the raging storms above.

'Incoming!'

Jackknife and the delegates sprinted back as the banshee wing destroyed the shuttle in twisting orange and green explosions. All that was left was a charred wreck with black smoke pluming from it.

'Dammit!' cried Palmer.

'We need a new plan!'

'That depot across the way. It leads to an old redoubt!' yelled Thal'Vadame.

'Majestic, Bailey; suppressing fire.'

Majestic exhausted their grenades on clearing out their stair case and switched to the eastern staircase to cover jackknifes exit. Bailey, Majestic and Jackknife formed a SPARTAN shield around the delegates, firing off a barrage of bullets. They clamored down the side of a small hill and entered onto a loading bay outside an old depot. Majestic took up the rear, tearing the elites that descended down the hill to bits. They backed into the depot and DeMarco sealed the door behind them. Finally they had some time to catch their breath but they knew it wouldn't last long.

'How are we getting of this rock? Our transmissions can't penetrate the storm.'

'We need to focus on capturing the redoubt. We can assume a defensive position there,' advised the Arbiter.

A squad of Sangheili special ops and two Jiralhanae specialists entered in through the depots rear entrance. The SPARTANS sprung to action, aiming their weapons at the intruders.

'Don't fire! Their allies,' warned Thal'Vadame.

The SPARTANs lowered their weapons and the elites saluted Thal'Vadame whilst the Brutes saluted Lydus.

'Alright then, Arbiters folks you're with us! Lydus, your men can stick with Scruggs and Jackknife,' ordered DeMarco.

'We do not take orders from you human,' snarled Lydus.

'But he is correct. We need to work together if we're getting out of here alive,' said Hood.

'Agreed. We can't afford any cracks in this plan,' warned Lasky.

Lydus grunted in acceptance. The final stretch of a thoroughly cocked up mission was underway and the biggest stakes were on the line. Majestic and bailey with their new elite squad mates moved out of the rear entrance and crouched down behind a concrete wall. As they continued down into the front loading area another obstacle reared its ugly head.

A Lich had found them and was charging its plasma cannons.

'Oh Shit!'

They dived into cover as a humming plasma ball crashed into the ground ahead of them.

'Jackknife, keep the delegates safe, I'm gonna take care this,' ordered Palmer.

She put her rifle on her back and sprinted out of cover, sprinting at inhumane speeds towards the Lich. The Lich's heavy weapons were too slow to catch Palmer and as she drew closer the Lich began to firing its reverse thrusters. Before it could begin reversing palmer scaled a nearby weather tower. She took a deep breath and jumped off of the tower and fired her jet pack. She clinked across the top of the Lich before grabbing old of a small crevice in the hull.

'That's hot,' smirked DeMarco.

Palmer pulled a belt of grenades from around her waist and slid down over the side of the Lich and sung into the open hangar like room at the ships center. She drew her pistol and quickly made her way to the ships engine room. The blue blood of grunts splattered across the walls as she entered into the engine room and armed the grenades. She through them at what she suspected was the ships energy core, a glowing radiation green pillar.  
As she clamored away the grenades went off, causing the core to implode and the ship to rip itself apart. She put another clip of pistol rounds into some Elites and swan dived out of the ship. The Lich shrieked and exploded in a flurry of green and purple explosions. A piece of shrapnel hit her suits right exhaust port and neutralized her jet pack.

'Oh hell!"

She thumped into the dirt and skid along the ground. Her body went limp and as the SPARTANs collected her she regained consciousness.

'Get off me DeMarco. Let's secure that redoubt.'

She pulled the piece of Shrapnel out of her armor and threw it aside. They entered the redoubt through a large rusted gate.

'Bailey, guard the entrance! Majestic patrol the perimeter! Jackknife, find me a safe exit.'

The SPARTAN fire teams dispersed to do their assigned duties. The Nuclear storm over head cracked and blinked with bright sheet lightning. Captain Lasky noticed the outline of several assault carriers within the massive storm cloud.

'So that's how they did,' thought Lasky.

'Captain?'

Lasky looked at Palmer and pointed a finger up towards the storm.

'They hid themselves in the storm,' he announced.

'Clever bastards.'

'Jul'Mdama is very resourceful.'

'Double time it Jackknife, we need to leave!' yelled Palmer over the comm.

'Commander Palmer, Thorne here. I might have found our ticket out of here. I'm over by the second guard tower.'

Thorne stood next to a large phantom like vehicle. Its body was made of the familiar purple gloss hull plating the Covenant were so fond of.

'An anti-gravity barge. This one's made for exospheric transport,' explained Thal'Vadame.

'So we can use it to leave.'

'Maybe so. But that doesn't help the fact there are assault carriers up there waiting for us.'

'Commander Palmer, we've got Covenant on approach.'

'Roger that Bailey. All teams regroup at the second guard tower.'

DeMarco turned around and stared at the AA gun. It was a Covenant AA gun they called the 'Tyrant.'

'I'll stay behind and draw their attention with this bad boy,' he announced.

Everyone turned to look at him. Palmer frowned at him profusely.

'I don't think so DeMarco.'

'With all due respect Commander, it's not your call.'

DeMarco manned the console at the base of the AA gun and began initializing the targeting computer. The computer had been totally fired, he would have to sight it in manually.

'She won't hit much but she'll make a noise,' chuckled DeMarco.

'You don't have to do this,' said Hoya.

'Move out Majestic, that's an order.'

Majestic formed up in a line and gave a salute before boarding the barge. Thorne powered its engines up and it started to float off the ground. Everyone loaded up and the first plasma canister was loaded. Thal'Vadame piloted the Barge away from the redoubt as DeMarco fired off the first beam, slamming into one of the assault cruisers. The cruisers suddenly turned their attention to the shot. The Barge powered through the storm, masking itself from visual view.

'We are coming out of the storm, try contacting the Infinity.'

'Infinity this is Captain Lasky, come in.'

'Captain…Key…Gone…Chief…Halsey.'

The channel was full of static and he could only make out 'Halsey' right at the end.

'We are on approach in a Covenant Barge, do not fire I repeat, do not fire.'

The joint Human and Sangheili fleet had suffered heavy losses and were in danger of losing everything. They flew into one of Infinities starboard hangars and were greeted by a platoon of marines.

'Roland! Sitrep now!'

'Yes Captain. We were blindsided by the Covenant fleet not long after you left. They struck us hard and fast with boarding parties but they were only here for one thing.'

'The Janus key,' thought Lasky

'Yes but that isn't all. The one who retrieved the key was one SPARTAN 117 the Master chief,' explained Roland.

'What, he's working with the Covenant?' wondered Hood.

'More likely working for Halsey. Roland, signal the fleet to make the jump to slip space and regroup at Reach.'

**November 11****th****, 2558  
THE ABSOLUTE RECORD**

Catherine Halsey stood at a series of holographic monitors, scanning over a series of data troves. Her eyes skimmed across the screen receiving the data and letting her brain absorb it. The Janus Key was effectively useless in halves, it had to be intact to display the forerunner artifacts. The small room was a collection of clutter. The only clear surfaces were the holo-table behind her and the containment beam that suspended the completely intact Janus key.

She picked up a data-pad and left the room. She entered into a long rectangular room with a long ramp at the center and a pronged device point down the ramp back towards a square control platform. Halsey's fingers skipped across the pads screen as she approached one of the control smiled as the stomp of an approaching SPARTAN echoed around the room. John-117 walked up the stairs with a guard of two Sangheili spec ops soldiers.

'John. I was hoping I'd get to see you.'

'Do we know what this is?' asked John.

'The facility itself is called the absolute record; it records every occurrence in the galaxy through some kind of hyper-advanced computer system. But this device is baffling; I can't find mention of it anywhere.'

'Maybe if Cortana was here she could help us.'

John had been in mourning after the loss of his closest companion. He had never bonded with anyone like he had with Cortana.

'John; I truly am sorry she died.'

Suddenly the instruments on the on the control platform sprung to life. The strange two pronged device at the end of the ramp hummed to life.

'What's going on?'

A trio of bodies were flung from the device and sent along the ramp in a tumble. John and his two guards drew arms.

'Oh my god.'

The disorientated arrivals stumbled to their feet and drew their weapons in a rush of adrenaline. Halsey stepped in between the two groups with curiosity pulsing through her body. She recognized one to be human but the seemingly female blue one and the biologically armored humanoids had her at a loss.

'Please, put your weapons down. The last thing we need is a blood bath.'

The two groups apprehensively lowered their weapons and Halsey straightened her stance and pulled her hair back over her ears.

'Now. My name is Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey; who might you be?'

'My name is …. Commander Kaiden Alenko, Alliance Navy.'


	2. The Mission

**December 12****th****, 2558  
THE ABSOLUTE RECORD**

Halsey sipped at a cup of water. Coffee would've been her choice of drink but the Covenant weren't as coffee inclined as humans. She hadn't taken her eyes off of the screens around her for the whole night. The Janus key was suspended over its insert port and two Sangheili guards watched over it. The door opened and Master Chief walked in with an assault rifle on his back and a magnum pistol drawn. The guards yelled at him in Sangheili and were silenced as Magnum rounds ripped through their skulls.

'John!'

'Do you know how to use the Janus key?' he asked.

'Yes. It's ready but I don't know how activate the map.'

Chief swiped the Key out of its suspension and the lines around it illuminated blue and orange at his touch.

'My god. How did you do that?'

Kaidan and his team walked into the building armed with MA5D's. Kaidan didn't lie the bulky clip fed guns but he didn't have much choice in the matter.

'You gave them guns?!'

'I can't get out of here on my own.'

Halsey looked at his cracked visor and could see something she had been neglecting all her life; John was broken. He was a war machine, not an errand boy; that's how she made him. The UNSC wanted her dead and after this little coup, Jul'Mdama would surely kill her.

'How long have you been planning this?'

'Long enough.'

'I'll come with you.'

Chief nodded and led them out of the room and into the maze of ancient forerunner hallways. It wouldn't be long before the Covenant noticed they were missing and sound the alarm. Chief had been working with Halsey in order to get both halves of the Janus key together. He wouldn't betray the UNSC, not even for Halsey.

They ran through halls, following the chief as he turned corner after corner. They came to the exit and as the door hissed open a Pelican roared by, pursued by a trio of banshees. Halsey couldn't believe what she was seeing. Elites entered onto the platform from side doors and fired off a burst of shots. The energy was absorbed by Chiefs shields as they drained away. They took cover behind a stack of Covenant crates.

Kaidan and Garrus swapped cover and fired at the group on the right side of the courtyard as they took cover. Chief readied to break cover and Kaidan followed his lead. They broke cover and sent a barrage of bullets down into the skulls of elites and exploded Grunts' environmental suits.

'UNSC Infinity this is the Master Chief, come in.'

Chief loaded a fresh clip into his pistol and led the team to a console where he extended a light bridge to a landing pad secured in the air by large struts.

'Master Chief, this Commander Palmer. We're on route to the LZ our ETA is 2 minutes.'

'Kaidan, take Halsey and the key to the landing pad, I'll cover your back,' ordered Chief.

He handed Kaidan the key and Kaidan glared at him, 'Liara, stay and help Chief.'

'I don't need help.'

'Don't be stupid.'

Kaidan and Garrus retreated across the bridge to the landing pad with Halsey and the key whilst Liara and Chief crouched behind a pair of barriers.

'Why did he leave you? I would have preferred either Kaidan or Garrus.'

A squad of elites came from the central exit and Liara exploded with blue energy and as she swiped her hand up the squad was engulfed in the same dark blue shimmer and were lifted into the air. Chief finished them off with three short bursts of bullets.

'That's why,' she smirked.

Elites, Jackals and Grunts poured from the exits in platoon strength. Suddenly a Generals head exploded as a bullet passed through it. Liara looked towards the landing pad to see Garrus holding his sniper rifle up.

'We don't have many thermal clips, pick your shots well,' said Kaidan.

'Like that's going to be a problem,' chucked Garrus.

Kaidan focused and powered up his biotics. He flung balls of dark energy down the light bridge at Covenant soldiers swarm the Chief and Liara. Chief threw a plasma grenade over cover and took out a squad of Jackals. Gleaming crystal like spikes dug into the barriers and exploded a few seconds after impact. Liara's shields wouldn't her against Covenant weapons; she had to be cautious.

A Pelican broke through the cloud layer and rapidly descended towards the landing pad. Its main gun fired off several rounds at the swarming force ahead of chief and Liara. Liara fired off a burst of bullets, killing another duo of heavy grunts. Chief looked over his shoulder and saw the approaching Pelican.

'Get back to Kaidan and Garrus, I'll cover you.'

Liara broke cover as Chief stood up and let off short bursts of bullets as Liara retreated to Garrus and Kaidan. Garrus finally ran out of thermal clips and switched to his MA5D. As Liara arrived on the landing pad Kaidan projected a barrier in front of Chief, stopping the bolts of energy. Chief looked back at Kaidan and began sprinting towards him

'Liara, I need a hand here.'

Liara helped Kaidan by channeling some of her power into the barrier as well, keeping it stable.

The Pelican rotated and landed on the pad with its ramp opened. Palmer and Blue team bailed out of the Pelican and without warning attempted to hand cuff Liara, Kaidan and Garrus. The barrier fell and the barrage of energy bolts flew at them. Chief reached the landing pad and scooped the petrified Halsey up and guarded her from the energy bolts. Liara, Kaidan and Garrus broke free and retreated into the Pelican with Palmer and Blue team. As the pelican lifted off Jul'Mdama emerged from the facility and screamed at the escaping Pelican.

'Get them cuffed,' ordered Palmer.

'No. They helped me,' said Chief.

'I don't care. Protocol says…'

'I know the rules. No cuffs.'

Chief stood at the same height as Palmer but still his demeanor crushed her like a boulder and she couldn't help but concede.

'Fine, they stay un-cuffed.'

Blue team stared at Garrus and Liara. Considering their history with aliens, they were cautious.

'Relax. They're allies,' assured Chief.

'You sure John?' asked Linda.

'I wouldn't have made it out without them.'

'You sure? Your one hell of a hard ass,' said Kaidan.

Halsey sat down beside Kaidan, she had grown to like Kaidan and his think first attitude toward everything.

'Who are you?' asked Fred.

'Commander Kaidan Alenko, Alliance Navy.'

'Alliance Navy, does he mean the NCA?'

'No. I came through the device with Liara and Garrus there.'

Fred and the rest of blue team seemed baffled a human came through with two aliens. Halsey looked up at Palmer with her cold eyes.

'Why?'

'Why what?' wondered Palmer.

'Why did you shoot me?'

'I was ordered to.'

'You were ordered to?'

'You were collaborating with the enemy and put the Infinity at risk.'

'This isn't about sides anymore. The Didact has returned and you shot me because you were ordered to? At least my Spartans could think.'

Palmer suddenly exploded with rage. She stood up and held her pistol to Halsey's head. Kaidan used his biotics to pull the pistol from Palmers hand and pushed her back across the hold of the pelican. Palmer smashed into the wall of the pelican causing it to rock slightly.

'Calm down, all of you,' said Chief calmly.

Palmer hated Halsey. She knew where to push for a good reaction. She wasn't sure she did it for a good reason or just did it for fun.

'What the hell was that?' asked Linda.

'It's called biotics…'

'Not you, you'll get your turn next. It was for Palmer.'

'I don't know … I just snapped.'

Linda hadn't seen anyone snap like that at someone let alone a SPARTAN, especially one with such experience like Palmer.

'Now it's your turn Alenko,' she announced.

'It's called biotics. We can generate fields from Eezo nodules in our body tissues around objects and manipulate them,' explained Kaidan.

'Eezo wondered Kelly?'

'It's…'

Kaidan was cut off as the Pelican rocked violently, throwing them around like rag dolls. They had entered into exospheric battle, and the shock waves from nearby explosions were echoing through the Pelican.

'Where's a Kodiak when you want one?'

**Aboard the Infinity…**

'Shields are at 50% and weakening Captain,' informed Roland.

Roland stood over the bottom right corner of the holo-table as Lasky analyzed the battle projected over it. Infinities sensors tagged Palmers Pelican, maneuvering through the battle towards it and a small ID tag formed above it. Lasky noticed the tag and opened a channel to the Pelican.

'Beta 12, status report.'

'Everyone present and accounted for,' replied Palmer.

'Good. What about the Key?'

'That's here as well sir.'

'Alright then, Infinity out.'

Lasky shut off the connection. He wasn't expecting to have the mission go so smoothly, but then again he didn't want to jinx himself.

'Roland, prepare the ship for slip space.'

As Beta 12 entered the hangar bay the Infinity was sealed, ready to make the jump to slip space. The Covenant ships bombardment skimmed past Infinity's shields as it began to accelerate away from them. Infinity's engines grew brighter as it sped up and eventually they reached a safe distance from the Covenant ships to make the jump.

'Make the jump to slip space.'

A blue rimmed portal of darkness exploded ahead of the infinity and as it moved through the portal closed behind it. The voyage to Atlas would take roughly 2 days, giving Lasky and Palmer time to complete the debrief.

The Master Chief walked onto the bridge with a data-pad like device in his hand.

'Master Chief, that was one hell of an operation you just pulled off,' said Lasky as the two exchanged salutes.

'Captain, Liara'Tsoni gave me this. She says it has all you will need to know about their society.'

Lasky took the unfamiliar pad from Chief and noticed the holographic keys projected onto a square piece of metal below a screen projection.

'Interesting. Where's Palmer?'

'She went straight to SPARTAN deck, she said she had some things to attend to.'

That wasn't like Palmer, she would normally be on the bridge as soon as possible. He didn't have time to dwell on that though.

'Lieutenant what's the damage?' asked Lasky.

'Minimal Captain,' replied the Lieutenant on a raised platform at the right of the bridge.

'Debriefing at 0800 Chief.'

Chief saluted and walked off the bridge. Lasky began navigating through the alien device.

'Mass Relays, Mass Effect cores, Reapers? Roland, what am I looking at?'

'By the mass of knowledge and extent to which it is detailed I would call it a codex,' replied Roland.

'Well, looks like I have some reading to do.'

**December 12****th****, 2558**  
**Laskys office**

'Do you think he's stable enough?' asked Palmer.

Palmer stood next to Lasky in his private office looking at the large screen on the wall. Master Chief was projected on the screen with some of his service history, the rest was classified even to Lasky.

'It's not his stability I'm worried about,' said Lasky.

'You think he'll side with her?'

'She practically raised him,' said Roland as his WWII bomber avatar appeared behind them on Lasky's desk.

'That isn't all.'

'What else is there?' wondered Palmer.

'Cortana was made by Halsey, Her AI matrix was a perfect copy of Halsey's neural patterns.'

Suddenly Roland and Palmer realized it. Chief had grown close with Cortana and now she was gone he had only one option left.

'That's not possible he's just a broken man,' said Palmer.

'He needs closure. We know the Didact wasn't killed and he thinks she is still alive somewhere. Halsey is his best hope of finding her.'

'What about these three that came through the device?' wondered Palmer.

'Roland?'

Roland opened up the codex and sourced dossiers on Kaidan, Liara and Garrus; the ones that were given to Shepard.

'Kaidan Alenko, he was born on Arcturus station and enlisted in the military at 18. He was sorted into the advanced biotics division as a sentinel. He was assigned to the command of Captain Anderson in 2183,' explained Roland.

'2183? They must be less technological inclined than us,' said Palmer.

'Not necessarily. We don't know how the device affects time. The time they come from may be significantly different to the time they arrive,' said Roland.

'What about the two aliens?' asked Lasky?

Roland pulled up a diagram of both Garrus and Liara. Alongside the diagrams were their dossiers and several other files linking to them.

'Dr Liara T'soni. She is a Prothean researcher and head scientist aboard the Normandy, Commander Alenko's ship. She is the interesting part, she is 109 years old.'

Palmer had met Liara and despite the fact she was blue and had tentacles for hair she didn't look a lot different to a young human. Lasky couldn't believe it either, he hadn't met her in person but he had looked at several photos of her with her crew mates.

'What about the other one?'

'Garrus Vakarian. He is another member of Alenko's crew. However I do see mention of his promotion to Admiral upon his return to Palaven, his home world. He has a very sparse military career, he served 30 years in the Turian navy and then another 20 at C-sec before joining the Normandy crew.'

Palmer didn't understand what Roland was talking about but Lasky had revised some of the codex and followed along.

'Captain, I think you should see this.'

Roland brought up the image of a Prothean. Its bipedal body covered in red and yellow armor and a golden head dress.

'They're called Protheans, a race of bipedal amphibians who were wiped out 50,000 years ago in Commander Alkenko's universe,' explained Roland.

'How does that affect us?'

'According to Dr T'soni's notes, the Prothean's came to our universe through the device sometime prior to their extinction.'

'That can't be right. We would have found mention of them,' said Palmer.

'Once again, we don't know what the time differential is. The Protheans could have come through at any point, perhaps even in the future.'

Laskys brain ached at the thought of the Prothean's going in 50,000 years ago and coming out again somewhere in the future.

'Could they have come out in the past?' asked Palmer.

'It's just as likely, possibly even pre-forerunner.'

Lasky didn't think time travel was possible but considering recent events, anything was possible.

'Roland get me an uplink to Lord Hood,' ordered Lasky.

'Yes, sir.'

'What are you planning?' asked Palmer

'The Absolute record could be what gives us the edge over the Didact. Chief said he found caches of Forerunner weapons and data troves.'

'I'll get the Spartans on standby,' said Palmer.

'No. If this mission goes ahead you're going on shore leave,' said Lasky reluctantly.

Palmer stopped in her tracks and sighed. Blue team had obviously told him about her out burst on the Pelican during the debrief.

'What happened in the Pelican won't happen again.'

'I know you mean that. But Dr Halsey will be aiding in the investigation, I can't have that happen again.'

'Who will stand in?' asked Palmer.

'I'm promoting Fredric to Lieutenant Commander, he'll command the Spartans.'

Fredric was a SPARTAN II, old and aged. She understood and respected him but his day had passed and it was time for the new and improved Spartans to take the lead.

'Him? You're replacing me with that old man?'

'Only temporarily, don't get it twisted! He works better with Dr Halsey and is the next best thing.'

Lasky had already grown tired of Palmers attitude. Working in space non-stop had a way of peeling away your patience. Palmer had been on tour for longer than necessary and was due for some shore leave any way. Palmer slumped and left the room. Palmer had never been the jealous type and she would always speak her mind.

'Keep an eye on her Roland, tell me if you see anything odd.'

'Will do, Captain … I have a link with Admiral Hood, patching him through.'

The screen projected a man in white UNSC dress uniform onto the screen. His face was wrinkled and his eyes were greyed.

'Captain Lasky, I suppose your mission was a success.'

'Yes Admiral. I'll forward you the briefs once I've finished them.'

'What is the reason for this call Captain?' asked Hood.

'The planet had a facility on it called the absolute record. Dr Halsey believes that it predates any known Forerunner site. She managed to activate the key there, I think its best if we return and setup a permanent research base there.'

Admiral Hood deliberated the request. The key would point the way to Forerunner weaponry and other technologies but he didn't like the idea of Halsey working on it.

'Captain I fully agree with apart from one thing. I don't like the idea of Dr Halsey working on the key, perhaps Dr Glassman could do it.'

'With all due respect sir, Dr Halsey is the best person to be working on this. But there is something else you need to know.'

'Go on…'

'The facility had a device within it. Three individuals came through it, supposedly from another universe.'

Hood didn't want to believe it. He had skimmed over the transmissions Master Chief relayed to the Infinity but when chief mentioned them he passed it off as a transmission fault.

'This device could prove valuable. You have my authorization Captain Lasky, HIGHCOM out.'

**UNKNOWN**** SYSTEM**

'Captain, wake up something has happened.'

All that could be heard was the ring of her voice. The world around him was bleak and smoky, making his lungs rasp. He broke into a coughing frenzy. He rolled over and felt a creamy liquid climb up his throat and spew from his mouth. His lungs calmed down but the smoke stung his nostrils. His body felt different, older. He staggered to his feet and leant against a wall. He was suddenly jerked and knocked unconscious against the wall. The last thing he saw as a familiar blue glare within the smoke.

'Captain? Captain can you hear me?' asked a man.

He came to and the familiar face of O'Neil was the first thing he saw. O'Neil smiled as he saw him looking around at his surroundings.

'O'Neil, we need to move.'

A Spartan tapped O'Neil on the shoulder and O'Neil nodded in reply. The Spartan noticed that he was awake and slouched slightly.

'Welcome back Captain,' she said.

'Good to be back Spartan,' he replied.

He stood up, his legs ached and that feeling of an aged body returned. The emergency lights flickered along the walls and the putrid smell of rotting flesh wafted up his nose. The rest of Spartan red team stood at his left, looking at him.

'How do I look?'

'You've looked better,' replied one of the male Spartans.

'Good to have you back Captain, I wish it was under better circumstances,' said another Spartan.

'What's happening?' he asked.

'The ships infested with flood.'

A pod at the center of the room flickered on and Serina appeared I her long sleeve shirt and dark trousers.

'Captain Cutter, when I said wake up I meant get up for good, not get up and go back to sleep,' said Serina sarcastically.


	3. Revelation

**Entry #34 – Absolute Record  
November 26****th****, 2558**

**This facility is intriguing. As far as I know this is the only location available without activating the key. As far as activating the key, I have been anything but successful. Most forerunner technology reacts to the touch of humans but not the key. The Absolute record itself is massive in scope, it's so old a small mountain has begun to form around it. The majority of the facility is deep beneath the ocean. At its lowest level their seems to be some kind of maelstrom, leading deeper beneath the ocean. **

**The device that Commander Alenko and his compatriots arrived through hasn't shown any more signs of activity but Jul'Mdama still keeps a guard detail in the control room at all times. The facility itself isn't Forerunner, it must be something left behind by the ones the Forerunner referred to as 'Precursors.' Dr T'soni, one of Commander Alenko's crew, said that an ancient race from their universe known as the Prothean made the fissure in space time and a logged 1,000 of them came through it in order to escape the extinction of their species.**

**Theoretically these Prothean could have come through the gate at any point in time, future or past. Me and Dr T'Soni both agree that the Prothean and Forerunner are not the same race; personally the Prothean aren't worthy of being compared to the Forerunner. However it is entirely plausible that they came through the fissure pre-forerunner time. That would explain the facility out dating any known Forerunner structure but still doesn't solve the problem of where they are. **

**No mention of them has been made in any Forerunner texts or by any monitor on the halo installations. The best theory I can come up with is that the Prothean died through lack of genetic diversity among the group of 1,000. But all that is theoretical, the Janus key is my main priority; I just Ned to figure out how to activate it.**

_**INSERTED NOTE:  
Today we found an organic orb above the maelstrom. It has no energy emissions and seems harmless enough, the question is how it got there. Very curious.**_

**Dr Catherine Elizabeth Halsey **

Professor Anders placed the data pad down on a stack of crates and stared at it a moment, thinking. She studied under Halsey but never saw eye to eye with her. However she agreed that the orb was very curious. The orb sat on a pedestal secured with titanium braces. Ribbons of blue and radiated green twisted around within it, like it was alive.

The bulkhead hissed open and Captain Cutter marched in with his arms swinging by his sides. His moustache arced with his mouth and his old eyes were clouded.

'Captain? I thought you would be coordinating the strike forces.'

'No. Since you brought this device on board the Flood have become unnervingly … docile.'

Flood weren't docile, they ravaged everything in their path relentlessly. A savage infection that's only purpose was to expand and consume.

'Device? Its organic, no energy signature.'

'Well it's done something. The Flood just don't retreat to the aft hangar bay on their own.'

Cutter looked at the orb with an evil glare, like he was eyeing it off. It wasn't a machine or any type of technology, it was organic.

'Is it Forerunner?' asked Cutter.

'Not from what I can tell. I saw nothing like this on the shield world.'

The shimmering blue Avatar of Serina activated over a pod beside the orb. Serina studied it for a few seconds before saying anything.

'It's definitely organic and annoyingly a perfect sphere.'

'Serina, I thought…?'

'I'm suffering Doctor. I'm having rather serious lapses in memory and basic control over the ships systems. My conservative efforts only bought me a minor amount of time; I should be dead in at least 2 days.'

Serina was a sarcastic AI, one of very few that were. She wasn't being sarcastic this time, she was suffering from severe rampancy. Smart AI's were only able to live for 7 years before Rampancy set in, Serina had out lived that by totally shutting herself down bar one minor system. Even so, she had only bought herself some time.

'We'll find a way to help you Serina,' said Cutter.

'No Captain, you won't.'

'Professor I want you re-searching AI rampancy and possible ways to stop it,' said Cutter.

'Sir this orb is….'

'That was an order.'

'I don't answer to you, I answer to ONI!'

'While you are using my observation deck as a lab, on my ship, you will follow my orders.'

Anders looked at the disturbingly calm Captain and nodded silently. Cutter nodded in reply and left leaving Serina and Anders staring at the orb.

'I've given you access to sensitive UNSC files on AI development and rampancy.'

'Thank you Serina. I will do my best.'

'I'm sure you will.'

Captain Cutter arrived on the bridge to be greeted by Chief Engineer Prescott leaning against the holo-table. An image of what looked like a crashed Covenant ship was projected over it and Cutter immediately became interested.

'Prescott, any ideas on getting us out of here?'

'We've found a crashed Covenant ship on the third planet,' informed Prescott.

'What's your point?'

'Serina pulled some Covenant drive schematics from the crashed ship. I've been studying them and I think I can reverse engineer it to fit the ship.'

Captain Cutter was all for the idea of a slip space drive and getting out of here but in order to reach the crash site they would have to make orbit around the planet. They were hiding behind a gas giant from the Covenant fleet in orbit around the planet.

'Prescott I admire your ingenuity but we are in no shape for a battle.'

Suddenly Serina's holographic body appeared over the holo-table with a concerned look on her face. Cutter and Prescott were surprised to see her still lucid.

'Serina, what are you doing?'

'I've detected multiple slip space ruptures near the Covenant fleet, they could be UNSC.'

'Or more Covenant ships,' said Prescott.

Hiding behind the gas giant both shielded them from Covenant detection and vice versa. If the ruptures were UNSC ships they needed all the help they could get. Cutter pondered, rubbing his moustache for a moment before making his decision.

'Bring the ship to full power, let's get that slip space drive.'

**Unknown planet**

Javik stared at the mass relay like device with his three fingered hands rubbing against one another. His four eyes flinched as EDI walked up beside him.

'I did not mean to startle you,' droned EDI's voice.

'You did not startle me. I am not used to being in alliance with a machine,' replied Javik.

Javik's despising attitude towards mechanical intelligences was understandable considering his whole people were wiped out by the Reapers. Javik found the design very reminiscent of the bunker he was preserved in, made for long term survival with a large power supply further underground. Prothean's were a proud people with a vast understanding of the galaxy but never mastered the construction of Mass relays.

'It is not of Prothean design.'

'I agree. It is of no previous relay design,' agreed EDI.

'Then who built it?' asked a husky voice from behind them.

EDI and Javik turned around to see Admiral Hackett. He looked at Javik with a concerned look in his face, it was the first Prothean he had seen for good reason.

'Believe you are familiar with this device Admiral.'

EDI pointed to a perfectly spherical silver orb on a pedestal at the center of a round console. Hackett immediately noticed the orb and he sighed.

'Leviathan.'

'Yes, the reaper killer.'

'The architecture is Prothean. The relay should not be Leviathan.'

'Have you looked through the database Javik?' asked Hackett.

'Only briefly but nothing mentions the Leviathan.'

Javik could sense Admiral Hackett was hiding something from them. Hackett saw the glare in Javiks eyes and new he couldn't get away with it any longer.

'I think you should both step outside.'

Outside of the facility a massive reaper stood above the Normandy crash site looming over them like the Colossus of Rhodes. Its four thick legs supported it and two glimmering eyes on its lower section seemed to watch them. Javik looked up in a mix of fear and resent while EDI simply looked on with fascination at its size and majesty.

'Harbinger,' said EDI

'What is it doing?' asked Javik.

Before Hackett could reply he was struck by a cold chill and the forest around him imploded into an infinite waving abyss. It was like he had been sucked into an ocean.

'Admiral Hackett,' echoed a voice.

It was distorted and fragmented Hackett saw the back of a tall man in alliance uniform standing at a distance, at least he thought it was man. He felt a finger running down the back of his neck, he flinched to see nothing behind him but the same man standing at a distance.

'What … where am I?'

'Your mind, memories … your consciousness.'

The voice was all around him, echoing through the abyss changing and mutating into a tangle of tones and voices. It felt like the screams of a billion people in his ears, clawing at his brain. Hackett squeezed his eye lids closed, gritting his teeth against the pain.

'Who are you?'

He knew he would regret the question but on opening his eyes his pain was expelled by plain shock. Shepard stood in front of him, studying him.

'I am the one you call, Catalyst.'

Its words were like claws dragging through him; he crumpled to the ground moaning in pain. Shepard seemed to notice the pain he was causing and knelt down beside Hackett. With a blink Hackett saw his dead mother looking over him.

The warmth of the air washed over him. He sat up in his soft bed and looked at his thin, young hands. He didn't know how to react. He ran to the window to see the spires of central Buenos Aires in the distance. He smiled at the site of his old home, gleaming and beautiful. Freighters roared over and cars hummed along the roads. His smile evaporated as dark clouds rolled over and buildings began to fall apart as Reapers ascended through the clouds. His body aged as the devastation set in and soon he was standing in the center of a devastated Buenos Aires with his mother standing across from him.

'Within your memories I speak to you.'

His mother's voice fell softly on his ears rather than the raw voice that mauled his mind before.

'You're the catalyst?'

'I am the one you refer to as such. You also once referred to me as Shepard.'

'What? That's not possible.'

His mother turned into Shepard and the crumbling city reverted into the infinite abyss and his tattered rags became his uniform.

'I am the intelligence, the answer, I am … the Shepard.'

Hackett awoke in the Normandy med bay. Dr Chakwas stood up out of her chair and walked over to him. He wiped the blood from his nose and slowly got to his feet.

'Admiral I think you should rest,'

'How long have I been out Doctor?'

'2 hours.'

'The reaper?'

'Still over the top of us, it just sits there.'

Hackett opened the ships intercom on his Omni-tool as he exited the med bay. His head thumped and his body ached like nothing he had ever experienced before. He leaned against the frame of the door way as his balance wavered.

'This is Hackett, Lieutenant Vega report to the war room with the others ASAP.'

Hackett gathered himself and made his way to the war room. The war room was manned by several men and women standing at holographic consoles. Shepard's team had gathered around the round holo-table at the center of the war room.

'Admiral, are you okay?' asked Vega.

'I … I'm not sure.'

'Your brainwaves are oscillating at dangerous levels,' warned EDI.

Hackett leaned against the table and brought up an image of the reaper. He could feel niggling of it's at the back of his mind.

'That is Shepard.'

Everyone looked at him with looks of surprise. Shepard had died when the crucible fired, at least that's what was thought.

'Shepard died Admiral,' said Javik.

'At least that's what they think,' said Jacob.

Javik felt the felt Hackett's pain and he realized that Hackett might be telling the truth. He grabbed Hackett's arm and suddenly his mind was overcome with information. He felt the fire of a million races being exterminated by the reapers. He saw whole planets burn and people converted into the mindless husks. He saw them, the collectors, Protheans turned into Reaper pawns. Everything converged onto one man, one intelligence. A collection of knowledge of what once was and always will be like a domain of knowledge; Shepard.'

Javik's lungs heaved as he returned to the present time. He felt his nervous system twitching with the sudden load of knowledge.

'Hackett speaks the truth; Shepard is alive.'


	4. Convergence

**December 17****th****, 2558**

'She's an impressive ship,' commented Cutter.

He and Lasky walked along the hall leading onto the bridge. Lasky smiled in content. A veteran Captains approval was more than rewarding; it was a dream come true. Cutter had a prestigious record during the insurrection and early into the Covenant war, respected by his peers and crew.

'Thank you Captain, that means a lot.'

They walked onto Infinity's large bridge and Cutter stopped at the entrance, looking on in awe. He thought the bridge of a halcyon cruiser was large, this was monstrous.

'That is impressive.'

Master Chief, Frederic and Kaidan stood at the holo-table waiting for them. Red team was being checked over by the scientists on the Spartan deck and Anders had joined Dr Halsey on the surface. Cutter had never met Master Chief but Jerome often spoke of him and blue team highly.

'Master Chief, Lieutenant and someone I don't know.'

Cutter looked across to Kaidan with look of query.

'I'm Commander Kaidan Alenko, just call me Kaidan.'

Kaidan extended his hand to be shaken by Cutter. Cutter shook it in the perception that Kaidan wasn't in the UNSC as he didn't salute like the others.

'You must be the one that came through the device,' said Cutter.

'One and only.'

'Captain Lasky briefed me on the situation on our way up here.'

The Spirit was being repaired by engineers from the Infinity and its support ships. Cutter had relinquished Serina to Dr Halsey in the hope she might be able to help her. The image of the unusual orb they found on the Absolute Record was projected over the holo-tabel. Kaidan noticed the object and rubbed his chin.

'The orb has baffled both Doctors Halsey and Anders but I believe Commander Alenko can shed some light on what it is; Commander,' Lasky swung his arm in Kaidans direction as if handing the right to speak over to him.

'Its technology employed by a race of ancient beings known as the Leviathan. Unfortunately I don't know how it works or how it got here but I can tell you it's very dangerous.'

'What's its function?' asked Frederic.

'It's a type of looking glass. Allowing the Leviathan to see into the outside world and into people's minds.'

'It's a mind control device,' said Chief.

'A little more complex than that I'm afraid.'

Cutter knew that there was something else going on with that sphere. Ever since it was brought aboard the Spirit the Flood began retreating. Upon the arrival of the repair teams and extra fire support on the Spirit the flood escaped to the planet in a life pod. After that we lost contact with the signature.

'How do we contain it?'

'Dr T'Soni has placed a containment shield around it, its harmless now,' replied Lasky.

Roland's avatar appeared over the table with a concerned look on his face.

'Roland, what brings you out?' asked Lasky

'Captain, we have a new problem. I'm registering Flood on the planet'

'Where?'

Cutter tensed at the mention of the flood. He'd lost too many men to their slimy tentacles. The planet projected over the table and a ring of Flood signatures emerged around the absolute record.

'They've made a defensive pattern around the absolute record.'

'Defense? That's not right,' thought Fred.

'What the hell is going down there?'

Roland brought up the facility closer to see the flood had made a perfect perimeter around it; as if they were purposely protecting it.

'A grave mind?' wondered Chief.

'That's the only reason they could be so organized,' said Frederic.

'What's a grave mind?' asked Kaidan.

'A hive intelligence that commands the flood,' explained Roland.

Cutter walked closer to the table, observing the formation. He squinted as if it would help him see whatever it was he was looking for. This holo-technology was not far different in appearance from that on the spirit of fire but it was far more advanced in both software and hardware.

'Roland, what's red team's status?'

'Checked out, they're preparing for disarmament now.'

'Open a channel.'

Rolland clicked his fingers in Cutters direction pointing out the channel was open.

'Red team this is Cutter, report to hangar bay 3,' ordered Cutter.

'The hangar, why?' asked Jerome.

'Because we have some more flood to kill.'

Lasky grabbed Cutter's shoulder as he began to walk away. He could see the determination in Cutter's old eyes. Cutter never liked being stuck on the bridge of a ship, he would always be wanting a piece of the action on the ground.

'Captain I think its best you stay here,' warned Lasky.

'Captain Lasky. We need to keep that facility safe.'

'I'll have my XO compile an assault company, you need rest.'

He hated not being able to fight. All his life he want to be there for his men but he had to stand back and watch from afar; he was sick of watching. Unfortunately for him Captain Lasky was right, even in cryo-sleep he had aged and it was beginning to show. Stiffness in his joints and muscle pains.

'…Very well Captain. I'll be in my quarters.'

**Later…**

Cutter wiped the tears away from his eyes. His wife, his daughter were both alive. Mary was an old woman living on Earth under the care of the UNSC and Maria was enlisted as a UNSC officer. The spirit had lost most of its inventory to pirates who raided prior to them waking up. Serina couldn't have noticed them, she was probably far to overwhelmed to even know about it.

The door into the room chimed; someone wanted to come in. Cutter quickly straightened himself and dried his eyes.

'Come in!'

To Cutters surprise Lasky was standing at the door. He came in and shut the door behind him. Lasky noticed all the documents and data pads scattered across the desk on the far side of the room.

'A little light reading Captain?'

'Just catching up on some things I've missed.'

'Admiral Hood just arrived on the Vociferous, he's coming aboard now,' said Lasky.

Hood was once Cutter's XO on board the Roman Blue but when Cutter took command of the Spirit of fire Hood was put in permanent command of the roman blue. At the battle of Arcadia the Spirit drop a log buoy before jumping to slip space. The Roman blue was supposed to retrieve the buoy but Hood ordered the crew to engage a Covenant destroyer, resulting in their retreat and the loss of the buoy.

'I want to see him,' said Cutter.

'I'll have him sent up,' said Lasky as he began to leave.

'Have him sent to observation Deck A, I'll meet him there.'

**January 3****rd****, 2187 CE**

The 63rd scout flotilla and its capital ship the SSV Perugia dropped out of FTL in orbit of the planet. Rear Admiral Hannah Shepard stood on the bridge of the Perugia looking over readings and analyzing the planet. Her flotilla had been tasked to Admiral Hackett as the rest of the fifth fleet was engaged in reconstruction efforts. Admiral Hackett went ahead on the SSV Charlestown, a small fast frigate. Shepard noticed a reaper signature, the one Hackett mentioned.

'So what's the verdict?' she asked.

'The fissure isn't just localized at the device, it encompasses the whole planet. Think of it like a flesh wound in the skin of the universe,' explained Dr Bryson.

'And the Leviathan orb?'

'We're still working on that. It hasn't shown any signs of activity.'

Javik walked onto the bridge with Admiral Hackett close behind. Hannah knew he son was alive, she had a feeling.

'Admiral, sir,' she saluted.

'Admiral, congratulations on your new command,' saluted Hackett.

'You gave me it, sir.'

'I know. You've done an exceedingly good job.

Admiral Mikhailovich and his ship was destroyed at the battle for Earth along with a substantial amount of the flotilla; only two cruisers and five frigates remained. The second cruiser, the SSV Shanghai, was one of the three cruisers within the decimated Eighth fleet, which was disbanded for several different assignments.

'What's the mission?'

'We've managed to excavate a series of data troves from the facility. I was hoping you would be able to allocate a space for a research lab.'

'Absolutely. I'll have my maintenance crew setup a temporary lab in crew room 3.'

'Thank you Admiral, your all dismissed.'

Dr Bryson and her team walked off the bridge and Hackett turned back to face Hannah with a grim look on his face. Hannah immediately knew what they were about to talk about.

'You saw him?'

'It's a long story but … yes.'

'Then he's alive?'

'Define alive.'

_Entry #3_

_Research project INTELLIGENCE _

_Approximately 30% of the fleet have submitted themselves to the medbay, complaining of vivid nightmares of dead loved ones and constant hallucinations of the same nature. Javik has written a very descriptive log on his connection with Admiral Hackett. Admiral Hackett has also submitted a log entry describing his experience.  
In every iteration of the nightmares and hallucinations they center on one being calling itself the intelligence. The being in question seems to appear as the late Commander Shepard. After searching through my files, the 'INTELLIGENCE' was the name given to the AI developed by the Leviathan to manage their slave races. The intelligence was also responsible for making the first reaper, Harbinger. _

_Javik described the intelligence as the 'Catalyst' which was the last component in the construction of the crucible. My theory is that Commander Shepard somehow integrated himself with the Catalyst, taking control of the reapers. I've formally requested that we return to Desponia 2181 and consult with the Leviathan, that request is still pending. As for the science behind the device on the planet's surface, I have made some promising progression in that regard. The relay like device uses nanoparticles of antimatter to rip open the small fissure that sucked the team through. I'm going to meet with Admirals Hackett and Shepard soon to discuss the construction of another device for rescue purposes. _

_ DR ANN BRYSON_

She rubbed her eyes and threw the data pad down on the table. She was surviving on a mere 4 hours sleep in the past 3 days since their arrival. The intercom buzzed as someone arrived at the entrance to her quarters.

'Come in!' she cried.

Admiral Hackett marched into the open plan room with slight look of strain on his face.

'Admiral, welcome to the leisure lounge,' she smiled.

'Glad to be here.'

He sat down in the black leather chair across the coffee table from her and let his shoulders slump. She and Admiral Hackett had been close since her husband's death aboard the Iwo Jima in 2165. He gave her and John the things they needed to get by and always spoke highly of her which got her this position. She briefly commanded the SSV Orizaba before personally assuming command of the flotilla after Admiral Hackett requested her assistance. She left the Orizaba with Commander Lehman to ferry supplies to Thessia.

'So what's the verdict on Dr Bryson's device?'

'The rescue of Commander Alenko and his team are key. I've authorized the immediate construction of the jump relay.'

'Jump relay?'

'That's what she's calling it.'

Dr Bryson was a supremely intelligent individual. Her father's re-search in tandem with hers led to the discovery of what is said to be the galaxies only apex race. She thought the implementation of a barely understood device that can rip holes in space time was a little drastic. She understood that Commander Alenko and his team were great assets but this was a risky mission.

'Are Commander Alenko and his team really worth this much risk?'

'They are a very valuable asset. We need their talent if we are going to overcome the aftermath of the war.'

'We don't need talent, we need leaders a new council. Without that we are bound to fail.'

Suddenly the ships alert began to ring. Red lights spun and fear inspiring alarm rang throughout the ship. She re buttoned her jacket and sprang to action as adrenaline thumped through her. Admiral Hackett followed at his best pace as the whole fleet scrambled to alert stations. She walked onto the bridge as crewman ran past, seemingly uncertain of what was going on.

'What the hell is going on?'

'Massive fluctuations on LADAR. Enemy signatures appearing and disappearing!' reported Commander MacLauchlan

She brought up the LADAR readings over the holo-table and watched them go in and out. Suddenly the ship jerked hard to the starboard and flung her off her feet. She scrambled to her feet.

'Barriers at 40%!' cried a serviceman.

'Jump us out of here!' ordered Hackett.

'All ships jump to rendezvous site A!' she yelled into the fleet's comm.

The fleet jumped seemingly instantaneously. The jerking stopped and everything had returned to normal; except for one thing.

'14 confirmed LADAR signatures off our bowe Admiral.'

'Unidentified vessels this is Admiral Shepard aboard the SSV Perugia, respond,' said Hannah over an open frequency.

'All ships are responding and reporting weapons locked,' notified one of the serviceman.

She noticed one of the ships was massive, 5 kilometers thereabouts. Her jaw nearly dropped to the floor at the sight of the massive ship.

'This is Captain Lasky aboard the UNSC Infinity. I don't what you want but I have a Commander Alenko standing next to me saying I should trust you.'

Hannah turned to Hackett as a seemingly timid Dr Bryson walked onto the bridge with a data pad in her hand.

'What did you do?'


	5. The Return

**Orbit of the absolute record, SSV Perugia  
January 4****th****, 2187 CE (Galactic ship time)**

Captain Lasky, Captain Cutter and Admiral Hood walked along the gangway leading onto the bridge where Admiral Shepard, Hackett and Alenko waited. Two armed soldiers guided the group of three onto the bridge and took up guard positions at the bridges entrance.

'I should have you thrown into the brig for what you did,' said Shepard.

'I didn't mean to, I was adding the anti-matter canisters to the core when something happened,' pleaded Dr Bryson.

'Whatever happened, we need to find a way back, said Hackett.

Captain Lasky, Cutter and Admiral Hood joined them around the large holo-table. Cutter stood on the opposite side of the table, keeping his distance from Admiral Hood, for his own reasons.

'Your dismissed Dr Bryson,' ordered Shepard.

Bryson left the bridge with pace, she didn't like being around the Admiral. Hannah didn't like being in the dark about things and anyone who disrespected that deserved to be disrespected.

'Gentleman we'll have to skip the meet and greet. Our sensors are picking up a reaper on the planet's surface, Harbinger,' explained Shepard.

'Harbinger, what's it doing here?' asked Kaidan.

'It must have been affected by the fissure as well,' said Hackett.

Kaidan didn't like the idea of a docile reaper, especially Harbinger. All the lives lost and it's just let sit there like a dog in front of a fire. Just because it caused hallucinations of Commander Shepard, doesn't mean Shepard is alive, Shepard died on the Citadel.

'So a reaper and an army of flood between us and the absolute record. I'm not liking our chances,' said Cutter.

'We need a plan, all contact with our team in the facility has been blocked by something,' said Lasky.

'Me and the Normandy are on station and ready to assist Captain Lasky,' informed Kaidan.

The two Admirals looked towards Kaidan with frowns. He'd just offered the Alliance's most advanced ship up for target practice. They didn't like the idea of the Normandy being front and center but it had the best chance. Shepard hailed MacLauchlan over.

'Release the asset.'

'Are you sure Admiral?'

'Do it Commander, that's an order.'

'Yes Admiral.'

**SSV Normandy  
Later that day…**

The assault company dispatched from the Infinity and the Kodiak carrying the group of 'assets' the Admiral was talking about. She neglected to tell him who they were for security reasons. She said they were one of few highly classified assets used for front line operations. He stood on the cargo bay as the Kodiak passed through Normandy's shields. It set down and as its side door parted it revealed a squad very familiar faces.

'Commander Alenko, permission to come aboard?' asked Grunt.

'Permission granted,' smiled Kaidan.

Grunt, Wrex, Samara, Tali, Jack and Jacob all exited the Kodiak greeting Kaidan in their own way. Jack slapped him around the face before giving him a rather uncommon hug.

'You feeling alright Jack?' asked Kaidan.

'Just fine fly boy.'

Bringing up the rear was a face he never expected to see again.

'Commander Alenko, I see you can't stay out of trouble,' smiled Major Kirahee.

'Always was a magnet for trouble,' chuckled Kaidan.

They shook hands and spoke between each other for a few seconds before Kirahee motioned to leave.

'I'll be in the CIC,' he said.

Kaidan left the cargo bay and made his way towards the war room. He reminisced of the times before the attack on Earth. The battle at the Citadel didn't seem so significant now that the reapers had decimated the galaxy. Despite the defeat of the reapers the galaxy was still in massive disarray. The reapers are now seemingly co-operative with organics, helping us rebuild the mass relays and resurrect our cities.

The Normandy crew was back together again, at least most of them were. The Normandy was tasked with fire support and ready to deploy three fire teams to the surface.

'Joker takes us down,' ordered Kaidan.

Major Kirahee would lead Fireteam 1 codename: Mako and Garrus would lead team 2 codename: Hammerhead and Fireteam 3 led by Kaidan codename: Grizzly.

The Normandy descended into the atmosphere as the teams geared up ready for deployment. Joker was the best alliance pilot and knows how the Normandy handles. The Normandy descended through the atmosphere with ease and Joker re-adjusted the ships mass effect fields. He slid it under the decending pelicans and fire the ships two Javelin torpedoes clearing a large landing area for the pelicans. The flood swarmed along the seemingly man made circular embankment surrounding the facility. Harbinger stood off in the distance, stoically watching them.

'Infinity strike team you are green for touch down,' said Joker over the comm.

The cargo bay door opened and as the Normandy lowered closer to the bank the three teams pounded bolts of metal through the flood converging on their position. The Pelicans deployed Spartans, ODST's and warthogs in quick succession as the Normandy lifted off and gave precision air support with recalibrated GARDIAN systems.

'All units this is Lieutenant Commander Frederic, push towards the facility.'

The push was hard, gruesome and scarring. Some of the crew of the Infinity hadn't fought flood in combat, only in the war games. Their shrieks were tenfold louder in the flesh and the stench was just more potent. Nearly half the company was lost, mostly ODST's and marines but the Spartans and Normandy fire teams made it to the facility.

'Majestic, Crimson and blue team with me. The rest with Commander Alenko.'

The two teams entered the facility through two different entrances. Upon entry communications died, no signal and no static; nothing. Even in dead zones there was static, this was something else, something was seriously wrong here.

'Normandy, come in. Fred do you read,' checked Alenko.

Nothing worked, Spartan neural interfaces shut down and Omni-tools were rendered useless. Kaidan remembered a similar incident on Desponia 2184, the Leviathan. This was too similar, the Leviathan had to be connected with this place somehow. They made their way to the main control room. All they found was equipment that had been left where it sat, no bodies or signs of a fight. They checked the room thoroughly before moving on. Fred and his teams were nowhere to be found, scouts reported no signs of them. The facility suddenly felt infinitely emptier, like the walls had been scaled up and every hall was like a basilica.

'I don't like this,' grunted Wrex.

'Stay focused, we need to find the maelstrom.'

The maelstrom twisted down for hundreds of miles, a great chasm of churning water. Frederic and his teams stood watching it seemingly frozen. They had all begun suffering from headaches and several Spartans complained of their implants itching. Wrex scratched at his head plate furiously, like he was trying to rip it off. It felt like a million eyes were watching them as they entered into the vast expanse of the maelstrom room. The metal platform surrounded the twisting funnel of water, allowing them to observe the abyssal it led to.

Javik felt it again, something he hadn't felt in fifty thousand years, a Prothean mind. He didn't believe it at first but as the feeling settled he was certain of what his sense was telling him.

'Commander, there is a Prothean here.'

'You sure Javik, my first guess would've been Leviathan.'

'I am certain of what I am feeling.'

With a blink a small figure appeared over the entrance of the Maelstrom. Its body was flat but its head looked, Prothean like. A tail of hard barbs extended from the head and it flowed behind it as it moved closer to Alenko and his teams. They're arms didn't work, they're weapons wouldn't come to bare; their bodies just stood there watching.

Its yellow compound eyes watched them and its four arms were rested at its side. It didn't say anything for a short time, but then its voice burned their ears.

'Human, Turian, Krogan, Asari, Quarian, Salarian … Prothean,' it boomed.

It was studying them, their biology and inner workings. Kaidan struggled against the invisible restraints around him. It looked at him as if knowing he was trying to move. It hailed him forward and his body followed the command independently. Its infinite yellow eyes melted his resistance. It was like someone had pumped him full of sleeping drugs.

'You are a traveler of the relay, from the other side.'

'What did you do with the bases occupants?' asked Frederic.

The shift of the primordial beings attention felt like a boulder over the people its vision crossed until it set on Frederic. Masterchief, Kelly and Linda stood behind Frederic. The being watched them closer than the others.

'Reclaimer.'

That's what the Didact called Chief. That's what the monitors called, that's what the Lirarian called him. His armor hadn't locked up like the rest. He was nearly the same height as the being and felt the sense that the Primordial was slightly afraid of him. He'd gained around a foot through a rapid growth spurt, supposedly induced by the Librarian.

'Who are you?'

'I am the guardian of the darkness that lay before you.'

Chief holstered his rifle on his back and walked closer to the Primordial. As he approached he could feel the being trying to get inside his head. He seemed to naturally block the beings telepathy, perhaps another effect of the accelerated evolutionary processes.

'Release these people,' ordered Chief.

'You must leave this place, the darkness cannot be breached.'

The control of their bodies was relinquished to the teams and with chief clenching his fist in the air they stayed their weapons. **'The darkness must not be breached.'** That was what the enthralls of Leviathan would preach before they died or the connection was lost; Leviathan was definitely here.

'Master Chief I believe there is a Leviathan there,' announced Kaidan.

'What's a Leviathan?'

'They were our galaxies apex race. They created the reapers.'

Suddenly the being shifted its attention back to Kaidan. He could fill it in his mind, sifting through his life. He couldn't feel any pain, it felt like something was showing him his own memories through his own eyes. The memories of Dr Bryson explaining the Leviathan replayed across his vision, like an imprint on the real world. The replay stopped at the moment Dr Bryson began to explain Leviathan's dimensions and overall appearance. It realized he already knew and there was no use in hiding itself any longer; the darkness had been breached.

The being waived its hand through the air and the air and everyone other than Masterchief and Kaidan evaporated into nothing.

'What have you done?' asked Chief, taking a step closer.

'They have been returned, with the members of this facility,' said the being.

'The Leviathan don't submit to demands, your lying,' said Kaidan.

'They do when they are threatened.'

The body of Commander Shepard materialized between Chief and Kaidan. He was dressed in his alliance uniform and stood with his hands on his hips.

'Shepard?'

'The intelligence,' corrected the being.

'What is the intelligence?' asked Chief.

'I am the one responsible for the preservation of life at all costs,' replied Shepard.

Kaidan knew it wasn't the real Shepard, but he hoped so much that it would be; those hopes were soon ripped away. The shell that stood beside him was only a silhouette of what Shepard was, a physical representation.

'Not Shepard' sighed Kaidan.

The Shepard impersonator and the primordial being stared at each other for what seemed like a solid minute. The Chief and Kaidan didn't intervene, the risk wasn't worth it. The Primordial being exploded in a flurry of pixels and Shepard was left standing silent.

'The humans are ready to receive their rightful place as the guardians of the Mantle.'

'What just happened?'

'The being you saw was an envoy of the real beings you know as the precursors, Kaidan knows them as Leviathan.'

Suddenly the realization hit both of them. The Protheans were enthralls of the Leviathan the Leviathan had been manipulating this galaxy from the very beginning. Kaidan went to ask a question but Shepard had disappeared.

'Kaidan, Masterchief come in,' cried Lasky over the comm.

'We copy, is everyone safe?' replied Chief.

'Thank god. Everyone is on board but the planets orbit is decaying, the Normandy is en-route.'

Captain Lasky swiped through data of the planets orbit and watched it beginning to move closer to the star with every second.

'Copy that Captain, send me the rendezvous co-ordinates.'

'Co-ordinates away Chief, double time it.'

Lasky closed the channel and breathed a risky sigh of relief. It was Requiem all over again, move in and get what they came for then leave as the planet plunges into the star. Suddenly the alert alarm sounded and Roland's avatar appeared.

'Slip space ruptures to our aft Captain, signatures match Covenant tags,' reported Roland.

'Red alert, all ships bring weapons to bare,' announced Lasky.

The Infinity dropped ten strident class frigates and launched several wings of broadswords. The Spirit of fire began to turn with the infinity and the other two autumn class cruisers followed the frigates in an arrow like formation. The 63rd scout flotillas frigates moved to block the fire reach the cruisers as they brought their broadsides to bare. Mass accelerator weapons smashed into Covenant shields, slamming the ships with brute force.

'Admiral Shepard, Harbinger is lifting off,' reported a serviceman over the alarms.

Harbinger ascended from the planet and laid waste to a Covenant battlecruiser. The CBT the alliance ships were equipped with gave only minor protection against the energy weapons used by the Covenant. The hulls began to melt away and certain areas were beginning to be exposed.

'This is the SSV Normandy we are clear of the planet,' cried Joker over the comm.

'All ships rendezvous at rally point Charlie,' ordered Lasky over the comm.

The Alliance ships immediately turned their noses towards clear space and as their pilots mapped the trajectory their mass effect cores spun up. They left with a thump and the Infinity and its fleet followed soon after.

**Mars Orbit, UNSC Spirit of Fire  
January 6****th****, 2559**

'It hadn't occurred to me the Precursors were Leviathan,' said Liara.

'I didn't think so either,' replied Dr Bryson.

The presence of the Leviathan in this galaxy worried both Alliance scientists and UNSC scientists alike. Their mind manipulation was devastating enough on its own but the they had no idea what kind of numbers they were.

'The Janus key must be Precursor technology, judging buy what the primordial said to John,' said Dr Halsey.

'Have you managed to find a starting point?' asked Admiral Hood.

'I have. I've translated some co-ordinates referring to installation 01; up for a little exploring?'


End file.
